CHAPTER 4

THE SPECIAL SCHEDULE

Keith took the open seat next to Trisha who smiled at him warmly. He could feel his face getting a little warm but his attention was suddenly turned toward the faculty desk. He looked up at the desk as a woman with curly brown hair stood up. Since she was at the very center of the table Keith was certain that she must be the Head Mistress, the one who had sent him his acceptance letter, Hermoine Granger.

Head Mistress Granger tapped on her goblet and the entire hall became silent. She smiled over the crowd of students showing a mouth full of perfect teeth. "Greetings, and welcome to Hogwartz," she said in a warm pleasant voice, "before I let you all get accustomed to your surrounding and let the first years see Hogwartz more extensively, I have a few start of term announcements." She cleared her throat and spoke loudly to make sure all of the announcements were heard. "First, the dark forest is OFF LIMITS to all students! This is important for the first years to learn, and for our other students to remember. Secondly, we have had far too many fights among the houses in the last three years over the house cup, therefore and wizards caught fighting on campus in anything other than officials wizard's duels will lose 100 points for their house." The entire audience murmured in surprise at this but nobody seemed to protest. "Those are all of my announcements, just remember to study hard and keep your eyes focused on your school work." The entire faculty table seemed to roll their eyes, "Now let the feast begin."

Granger clapped her hands and the tables were instantly covered in platters of the most amazing looking food that Keith had ever seen. He saw roasted chicken, hams, all kinds of drinks, and many types of dishes he had never heard of. As he began to sample everything Trisha started to ask him questions about himself. He answered her questions a bit uneasily at first; he wasn't use to girls showing any interest in him. Particularly not cute girls like Trisha. She told him about herself a bit and Keith learned quickly that she was almost as talkative as Katie was.

"My family raise all kinds of magical birds," she said as she sipped on her goblet of pumpkin juice, "we have all kinds of owls, and hawks, and even a phoenix. My parent's were so amazed when the heard I got in, I really don't do much magic, but I have a lot of interest in magical animals and I heard that the Care of Magical Creatures teacher here is one of the best in the world."

Keith listened to her and had to admit that he was eager to learn about magical animals himself. He had flipped through his monster book, whenever it wasn't trying to bite somebody, and he had to admit that some of these creatures were very interesting. He wondered if magical creatures would love him as much as he was by the dogs, cats, and birds in his neighborhood.

Just as Trisha was about to start in on what was looking to be another long conversation, Katie appeared and sat down on the opposite side of Keith. Trisha's expression dropped from pleasant to down right furious. "What are you doing here," she said a little sharper than Keith had expected, "this is the Ravenclaw table."

"So?" Katie said with a fake smile, "That doesn't mean that I can't get to know the students at the other tables." She began talking to Keith not paying any mind to Trisha, and clearly not interested in getting to know anyone else at the table. Keith was beginning to get a little nervous. Why were these two so interest in him? Was it because he's a Veela? Was he using his powers again and not realizing it? Was that the reason? Keith let his mind wander over these worries, not even listening to Katie and Trisha as they both fought for his attention and eventually the banquet was over and it was time to go to bed. Katie left the table with a smile to Keith and a somewhat viscous stare at Trisha before running back to the Gryffindor crowd. Keith and Trisha were lead with the two other first years into one of the many towers. Professor Chang motioned for them all to follow her up a very, very, very long spiral staircase that seemed to go up forever.

After what seemed like an eternity, the stairs ended and all of the first years stopped at the top of the stairs breathing heavy. Professor Chang smiled at them; she was breathing a little heavier than usual but not much. "Don't worry you'll get use to it." She said as she looked to her right. Keith followed her gaze to see the wall had four large statues of Raven lined up along it. She walked over the third one from the stairs and the statue actually looked up at her.

"Password." The statue said, it body made a very loud creaking noise as it moved its large stone mouth.

"Silver feather." Professor Chang said simply. Slowly that wall lowered into the floor to reveal a large passageway. Professor Chang entered and the first years slowly followed her in. Keith's eyes widened at the sight of the common room he was going to be using for most of the year. The entire room was decorated in various shades of blue and violet and seemed to have a very cool, serene sense to its surroundings. There were three round tables on one side of the room and several large comfortable chairs near a large fireplace. Near the fireplace Keith noticed what looked like a staircase leading even higher up. Keith groaned to himself at this sight.

"Not more stairs," he thought to himself. Professor Chang smiled to them and pointed to the staircase.

"Now," she said, "girls dorms are upstairs to the right, and the boys are to the left. All you belongings are already up there. Get some sleep, I'm willing to bet that you'll all have a big day tomorrow." With that Professor Chang left the room and the wall replaced itself behind her. After a few moments of silently looking around the first years made their way up the stairs. It was as he was heading up that Keith noticed he was the only boy in the group of first years. As all of the girls turned right at the top of the stairs Trisha waved goodbye and Keith made his left turn. He walked through a small hall of doors until he came to a room with a gold sign saying "1st Years." He pulled the door open and entered into a large room with five four poster beds inside it. Since he was in the room by himself he choose the bed right next to the window. As he looked out of the window he saw the one primary benefit to being in such a high tower. The view of the grounds was absolutely magnificent from this high up and as he looked over the sky he felt a sense of peace that made it very easy to drift off to sleep.

Keith woke up earlier than usual the next morning. He looked over the large forest in the distance and saw that it was covered in a thick lair of fog. He jogged downstairs and heard some type of scuttling sound behind him. He turned around and looked down to see his monster book following behind him. Not able to think of any reason to make it stay he let it follow him down the stairs. While he didn't have any idea about the layout of the castle, his sense of direction had always been good and he was able to find the Great Hall easily by remembering the route they took to get to their common room. He found it and his book shuffled between to desk. Keith sat down at the table wondering if there was set time for breakfast. His thought was immediately answered when a bowl of porridge appeared in front of him. He smiled and began eating when he saw Professor Chang enter the room, as she did his monster book shuffled up to her and brushed against her leg. She looked down at it and picked it up. It rested lightly in her hand and she looked up and noticed Keith. She walked over to him, looking somewhat confused.

"Keith," she said casually as she held up the book, "is this yours?" Keith nodded and she seemed confused. "But this book isn't on your list, 1st years don't take Care of Magical Creatures." Keith swallowed his porridge and explained to her why he had bought the book. Just like his mother had, she smiled and laid the book next to him. "Are you fond of animals Keith?" Professor Chang sat down next to him and a bowl of porridge appeared in front of her. The casual way she talked to him reminded Keith of his Aunt Shari.

"I'm not entirely sure," he said, "I just seem to be connected to them. Dogs and cats always follow me everywhere, and I seem to attract all kind of birds." Professor Chang looked at him thoughtfully and then stood up.

"Keith," she said, "the schedules haven't been finished yet, I want you to come with me for a second." Keith looked confused but did as she said. He picked up his monster book and followed Professor Chang out of the great hall. She led him through the main entrance out onto the beautiful grassy fields of the area. Keith stopped and wondered what she was doing. She turned and simply stared at Keith. What was going on? Did she expect him to do something?

Keith was about to open his mouth to ask when a single blue bird landed on his head. Keith glanced up in time to see another blue bird land on his head. Slowly but steadily all kinds of birds came out of the forest ward him until he was surrounded by and seemingly endless flock of birds that just seemed to fly over him. Chang smiled and began waving away all of the birds.

"Very interesting," she said, "Keith I think were going to have to give you a special schedule."

"A special schedule?" he asked.

"You seem to naturally draw animals toward you," she said, still trying to wave away some of the birds, "there are a lot of dangerous creatures that may be drawn to you too. I think it best you start taking Care of Magical Creatures now instead of waiting till your third year." Keith thought about some of the more dangerous creatures in his monster book; goblins, ogres, trolls, gargoyles, and dragons. He definitely didn't want to have to face any of them.

"I'm going to see what I can do about your schedule," she said, "you can head back to the great hall."